Sunday, December 16, 2007

It was one day late but countries achieved a major breakthrough on international climate change action at 2:31pm Bali time on Saturday. It was not without high drama featuring plenty of twists and turns along the way on a day when many delegates had planned to catch flights home.

It even took the special intervention of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yodhoyono and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to exhort delegates to complete what seemed like hopelessly deadlocked talks.

Yodhoyono called on countries to complete "the most difficult mile," of an "exhaustive marathon." He told delegates that we could not allow "the human race and the planet to crumble because we cannot find the right words."

The Secretary-General, who returned to Bali after a visit to Timor-Leste, said he was reluctant to speak again to the conference but that he was disappointed in the progress that had been made. "The hour is late. It is time to make a decision." He appealed to delegates not to "risk everything you have achieved so far."

After a morning of false starts and false hopes, miscommunications and misunderstandings, countries agreed on a roadmap to launch negotiations toward a global, comprehensive agreement to address climate change. The Bali decision sets out an agenda that frames the discussions that will take place over the next two years and sets a deadline of 2009 to complete the negotiations.

After agreement was reached, the Secretary-General issued a statement strongly welcoming the outcome and saying that the Bali Roadmap achieved all three of the main objectives. "The Bali Roadmap that has been agreed is a pivotal first step toward an agreement that can address the threat of climate change, the defining challenge of our time."

But the agreement did not come painlessly. On a key provision, concerning the obligations of developing countries in the future negotiations, India, speaking for developing countries, said that alternate wording had been agreed to during the night. And then Bangladesh said that language concerning the least developed countries and small island states had been omitted. The Philippines said the phrase "on the basis of equity" had been omitted. And then the United States said it could not accept the formulation that was put forward but offered to keep working until an agreement could be found.

Then South Africa, responding to the US, said developing countries had voluntarily moved to accept new obligations for their national actions on climate change that were "measurable, reportable and verifiable," a concession that only a year ago, he said, "would have been unthinkable." South Africa asked the US to reconsider its position.

Then an avalanche of countries took the floor in support of the developing country position, many asking the US to state their reservations separately and not block a consensus.

US Under Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky took the floor again and said the US wanted a roadmap and wanted to be part of the roadmap.

"We are very committed to long-term greenhouse gas emission reductions," and she said the US would work with other large emitters to halve global emissions by 2050. And then she said the US "will go forward and join the consensus," which was followed by a thunderous ovation.

"It feels like we are in a movie with lots of plots," said the delegate from Egypt.

After full adoption by the plenary, countries thanked the US for joining the consensus and thanked the secretariat of the Climate Change Convention and the Indonesian government for hosting the Conference.

BALI, Indonesia, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- The United States reluctantly has agreed to join a global effort to negotiate a new climate change treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"We will go forward and join consensus," Paula Dobriansky, the head of the U.S. delegation said Saturday.

The United States, in a dramatic reversal, agreed to give poorer countries financial aid and clean technology after the U.S. delegation was booed in Bali at the two-week climate change summit, Britain's Telegraph reported Saturday.

The U.S. delegation did succeed, however, in getting the summit to scrap specific targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for itself and other industrial nations. The road map for the proposed treaty now calls for industrial nations to recognize "deep cuts in global emissions" will be needed by 2020, the Telegraph reported.

A new climate treaty, to be negotiated by the end of 2009 and enforced in 2012, would replace the Kyoto Protocol rejected by the United States six years ago.

Take a look at the visible picture from F-15 overpass provided by US NavyRead the Navy report about the systemAN AREA OF CONVECTION HAS PERSISTED NEAR 7.5N 87.5E, APPROXIMATELY 450 NM EAST OF COLOMBO, SRI LANKA. ANIMATED MULTISPECTRAL IMAGERY REVEALS A FULLY EXPOSED LOW LEVEL CIRCULATION CENTER (LLCC) WITH BANDING CONVECTION ALONG THE NORTHERN AND WESTERN PERIPHERY. THE CONVECTION IS DISPLACED 60 NM TO THE NORTH AND WEST DUE TO MODERATE TO STRONG VERTICAL WIND SHEAR. A SYNOPTIC-SCALE UPPER LEVEL ANTICYCLONE TO THE NORTH AND EAST IS PROVIDING GOOD POLEWARD OUTFLOW FOR THE DISTURBANCE. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED SURFACE WINDS ARE ESTIMATED AT 15 TO 20 KNOTS. MINIMUM SEA LEVEL PRESSURE IS ESTIMATED TO BE NEAR 1005 MB. DUE TO THE MODERATE TO STRONG VERTICAL WIND SHEAR, THE POTENTIAL FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SIGNIFICANT TROPICAL CYCLONE WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS IS POOR.

In chennai, we had a mild day with North-North-westerly winds thru the day, and now (11:03PM) it's very calm.Today's temperature Hi: 29.4°C @ 11:22am and Low: 25.7°C @ 5:06amHumidity: Hi: 79% @ 1:33am and Low: 60% @ 11:24am, the humidity is on the high side.Now take a look at the numerical forecast for next 48hrs.this too suggests a weak "94B". but more to come at the end of this week..!!!